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Rehovot, Israel
May 19, 2009
Evogene Ltd. (TASE: EVGN) announced today its financial
results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2009.
Ofer Haviv, Evogene's president and CEO stated: "We are very
pleased to conclude additional quarter of growth and progress in
the two main fields of our activity - improved traits for a wide
diversity of key commercial crops and improved feedstock for
biofuels. In the first quarter of 2009 we continued, as planned,
with our R&D activities under our collaborations with leading
international ag-biotech companies, including the five year
agreement with Monsanto Company, initiated in August 2008.
Furthermore, in April this year, we announced a three year
agreement with Bayer CropScience for yield improvement in rice.”
Mr. Haviv continued “During this quarter we greatly strengthened
the capacity of our technology platform for gene discovery and
plant validation through significant expansion of our molecular
lab, tissue culture rooms, greenhouses and office space."
Revenues for the first quarter of 2009 were $2.4 million, compared to $114
thousand for the same period in 2008. Revenues for the first
quarter of 2009 include revenues generated mainly under the
collaboration with Monsanto. Profit from ordinary operations for
the first quarter of 2009 was $624 thousand, compared to a loss
from ordinary operations of $1.2 million in the same period in
2008.
Total comprehensive loss for the first quarter of 2009 was $1.4
million, or $0.06 per share, including financial expenses of
$1.7 million due to revaluation of options and obligation to the
Office of Chief Scientist. This is compared to a total
comprehensive loss of $0.7 million, or $0.06 per share,
including financial revenues of $182 thousand due to revaluation
of options and obligation to the Office of Chief Scientist in
the same period in 2008.
As of March 31, 2009, Evogene had $30 million in cash, cash
equivalents, cash deposits and short-term marketable securities.
Evogene is a world leading developer of improved plant
traits. The company’s proprietary product development platform
combines state of the art computational gene discovery
technology (The 'ATHLETE'), plant and field validation
capabilities and unique selection systems. Evogene's current
programs focus on the improvement of key plant traits, such as
yield and stress tolerance, and the improvement of plants
specifically for biofuel uses. Evogene has collaboration and
licensing agreements with world leading companies in the
agro-biotech and alternative energy industries. Evogene's
headquarters are in Rehovot, Israel, and its stock is traded on
the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE:EVGN). For additional
information, please visit Evogene’s website at www.evogene.com. |
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